[TUTORIAL] Using Tasker / KLWP together with Homey

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Using wallmounted tablet as security camera with Tasker and IP Webcam

I recently installed a wallmounted tablet with Homeydash which allows me to control stuff. But I figured the tablet was useless while I’m not at home. Not anymore, I’m now using it as a security cam as well which automatically switches on when nobody is at home.

So the goal of this tutorial is to switch on a security webcam on an Android device when Homey detects nobody is at home and switch it off again when somebody gets home (and for instance switch back to Homeydash when somebody gets home)

Prerequisites

  • A working Homey with the following apps installed:
  • A way to detect the presence of household members (there are numerous topics about this but I’m gonna assume here you have found a way for Homey to detect presence and can trigger flows based on this).
  • An Android device (preferably already in use as wallmounted tablet) with the following apps installed:

Configure the apps on Android

I’m gonna assume you know how to setup Tasker. AutoRemote does not really need any further configuration after installation, but you could optionally set a password in the settings for extra security. You can ignore the google short URL, we are going to use the WiFi service which enables access to the tablet over your local network. How to configure IP Webcam is described here.

Setup Tasker

In it’s most basic form you will need threeTasker profiles, both with .

  • Profile 1 with trigger “event -> plugin -> AutoRemoteLite” with message filter “home” and under this profile an IP Webcam task to stop the server (and optionally start Homeydash, I use Fully Kiosk Browser for this, excellent app with motion detection to automatically turn the screen on)
  • Profile 2: with trigger “event -> plugin -> AutoRemoteLite” with message filter “away” and under this profile an IP Webcam task to start the server (and optionally first shut down anything else used when somebody is home like Homeydash)
  • As mentioned, we are going to use the WiFi service of Autoremote to be able to send messages to the tablet through the local network. This requires the WiFi sevice to be started after every reboot. So create a tasker profile with trigger “Device boot” and a AutoRemoteLite task to start the Wifi service. Remember to manually run it now so the WiFi service is started.

Configuring Homey

Only a couple of flows are needed to switch the Android device between the home state (with something like HomeyDash) and the away state with IP Webcam. Setup the following flows or something similar:

  • A flow which is triggered when presence of a household member is detected. In the action column add a HTTP app GET action card and fill in the following, where you replace IP with the IP of your Android device and optionally fill in the password when configure within AutoRemoteLite: http://<<IP_ANDROID>>:1817/?message=home<<&password=your_autoremote_password>>; . This action card will trigger the Tasker profile on the Android device to start the action to stop the IP Webcam security camera (and optionally start Homeydash).
  • A flow which is triggered when no presence of any household member is detected. In the action column add a HTTP app GET action card and fill in the following, where you replace IP with the IP of your Android device and optionally fill in the password when configure within AutoRemoteLite: http://<<IP_ANDROID>>:1817/?message=away<<&password=your_autoremote_password>>; . This action card will trigger the Tasker profile on the Android device to start the action to start the IP Webcam security camera (and optionally stop Homeydash).

Now you have Homey setup to start the IP Webcam security camera when nobody is at home. Of course you would like Homey to know when motion or maybe even sound is detected. For this to work you will need to add the IP Webcam security camera as device under Homey using the Android IP Webcam app for Homey. After adding this device (make sure the camera is active when adding it as device) you will have all sorts of trigger cards (like motion detected etc.) to setup several security related flows. And that’s it!

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